Shipping carton



IIIIIIIIIIIII N "mu as m lrmlllllllllll llllm April 6, 1954 c. A. ROSS 2,674,400

' SHIPPING CARTON Filed Jan. 3, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J E: E 4: 30 32 6 24 I v 1 IL \1/1 I I I 1/ 11 I I I/llllll v llllllll'llll.

w 32 24 a2 a2.

2 i 'ZOTNVENTOR OOLIN A. ROSS ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 6, 1954 "UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Ma n tionof Massachusetts Corporation, Troy, N. Y., a corpora- Application January 3, 1.95.0, Serial No. 136,470 2 l S- L .2 3

The present invention relates to cartons made of heavy ,paper or cardboard such as the usual co u ate box mater a use f th se Pu p se The carton of the present invention is particularly useful in I packaging relatively heavy objects and is adapted to ,withstand rough treat --ment,during shipment.

For these purposes, I have provided a rigid distortion-free earton of octagonal shape in which the objects to be shipped can be packa ed withgreat rapidity. For example, the carztonofthe present invention has beensuccessfully used in packaging -relatively heavy rolls of sandpaper and the like, and it has superseded the previous method of packaging such rolls :wherein they .weremwrapped in kraft paper and the like, While providing bulk-heads consisting 'of-narrow corrugatedrolls .with the paper turned inand fiastened against the circular flatsides of these bulk-heads. Suchvprevious wrapping practices involved-a great many operationsand were time consuming, whereas the use of the carton of the present invention -more than doubles the speed vwith Which-such objects may; be packaged. The particular objects and advantages of the invention ,will be apparent as the ;description herein progresses, reference being made to the drawings in which:

Figure lis a perspective .view of the carton with its end flaps closed and in that condition inwhich it is substantially readyfor shipment;

in to;t'he-top and bottom planes of the carton ends to form reinforced end walls each consisting of two layers.

While all of the flaps are of the same Width, there are two pairs of flaps which are relatively long in length and two other pairs of flaps which are relatively short in length in order to obtain a reinforcing action between the flaps as hereafter described.

As is the usual custom, the blank may be made up in the form of a unitary sheet or the corrugated materialproperly formed and cut as shown in Figure 5, and this sheet may then be bent into the octagonal configuration and the union edges l2 and I4 attached to one another in the well-known manner as by a strip of adhesively secured reinforcing tape overlying and securing h se edges. Thereafter, the flaps may be bent inwardly to form one end of the carton, the .contents .then placed in the carton from the open end, after which the flaps of the open end may then be closed and adhesivelysecured, as hereinafter described.

In Figure 2, the inner layer of the carton end is shown being formed by a first pair of opposed flaps .ltand a second pair of opposed flaps 1,8. The flaps [6 are of such length that their inner edgesabut or contact one another in intimate relationship at the center of the carton as indicatedat 20. The second .pair of opposed flaps I8 are of substantially shorter length, sothat they contactthe side edges of the flaps 1,6 in intimate abutting relationship, as indicated at 22, it being apparent that this contact extends centrally alongthe side edges of the flaps l8 andonboth sides of theend edges 20 of the flaps I6.

It will be noted that the flaps 18 extend at substantially right angles to the flaps l6, and that the flaps l6 and [Bare carried on every other panel "lot the carton. When the flaps are turned inwardly to the plane of theend of the, carton as justdescribed, they form an inner layer for the end wall and at the lines of abutting contact 20 and 22 a mutual reinforcing action is provided between theopposite and adjacent panels whereby strength is afforded to withstand impact against the sides and corners of the carton during shipment, and thetendency of .thecarton to buckle is avoided. or course, ;itwill be understood that the inner vand outer i layers are formed at both ends of the carton in the .manner described herein. The flaps of the inner end layermay be securedtogether in any table manner and by adhesive tape or they may be simply folded inwardly in contact with one another a as shown in Fi ure 2, after which the flaps forming the outer layer may be glued.

to those of the inner layer, and to each other, after having been folded inwardly as now to be described.

Alternating with the flaps of the inner layer, there are opposed pairs of the longer flaps 24 and of the shorter flaps 26, which comprise the outer layer of the carton end. The flaps 24 are turned inwardly as shown in Figure 1 until their inner end edges contact each other in tight abutting relationship along the line 30, and thereafter, the shorter flaps 26 are turned inwardly until their inner end edges contact the side edges of the flaps 24 as indicated at 32, it being observed that the lines of contact 32 extend on both sides of the line of contact 36 between the inner ends of the larger flaps 24.

The length of the long and short flap has a definite relationship to the width of the flaps due to the geometry of the situation. Because the carton is of octagonal configuration having eight side walls of equal size, the angle between adjacent side walls will be 135. It will also be noted that the width of the side walls is substantially equal to the width of each of the flaps. Therefore, it is now quite obvious that the length of the short flaps l8 and 26 is .707 times the width of the flap as this length will be determined by the sine of a 45 angle. Likewise, the length of the longer flaps l6 and 2 5 will be equivalent to the length of a shorter flap plus one-half the width of a flap, or thus 1.207 times the width of a flap. Of course, the above figures are based on a carton being geometrically perfect, but due to manufacturing tolerances it might be said that the blank shown in Figure 7 can be manufactured by having the length of the longer flap in the order of 1.2 times the width of a flap or side wall, and the length of the shorter flap in the order of .7 times the width of a flap or side wall.

With the end closure thus formed as shown in Figure 1, the carton end comprises two layers, each consisting of opposed pairs of longer and shorter flaps, and the flaps of the outer layer may be adhesively secured to one another as by tape and to the flaps of the inner layer, as desired.

With this construction, it will be observed that the lines of contact 28 and 22 or 30 and 32, in a particular layer, are at right angles to one another, whereas these lines of contact in one layer are at an acute angle to the lines of contact in the opposite layer thus providing an end closure of great strength and which is capable of with standing impact on the carton from any direction, as against the sides and corners thereof during shipment. The resulting carton is 01 great rigidity and can be rolled along the floor in the manner of a wheel. Because of the novel arrangement of the flaps, end closures having two layers are provided, and excessive haphazard overlapping and undue thickness throughout the central area at the end of the carton is avoided. If the carton is dropped on any of its edges, there is a reinforcement at each corner of the octagon by reason of the double thickness provided by the overlapping of flaps, and the end and side edge abutment contact as described. The carton has a rigidit and flexibility not present in cartons of conventional design, and while the carton has been found to be particularly useful in packaging rolls of sandpaper or coated abrasive as described, it is obvious that it may be usefully employed in packaging many other types of products. While the carton is of most pronounced usefulness in shipping, it may also be effectively employed as a container used in dispensing rolled sheet material such as sandpaper without removing the roll from the carton. If this particular use is contemplated, the longer flaps l6 and 24 may be scored, perforated or weakened centrally of the ends of the carton so that a mandrel can be pushed axially through the carton and through the roll contained therein, the mandrel then constituting a shaft around which the carton and the roll may be turned to remove desired lengths or sheets of the sandpaper from the roll. In providing fo such use of the carton, spaced lines of perforations or scoring may be provided vertically throughout one of the side panels It) as shown at 40 in Figure 1, so that a portion of this side wall may be removed to pass the end of the sandpaper sheet on the roll. With this arrangement, a desired length of the sheet material may be pulled outwardly through the slot and then torn off for use.

I claim:

1. An octagonal carton comprising side walls of substantially equal size each having end flaps hinged thereto at both top and bottom, said fiaps being turned in forming a two layer reinforced end for the carton, the combined length of an opposed pair of said flaps being equal to the distance between opposed side walls of the carton, said pair of flaps abutting one another at their inner end edges as they exist turned in to the plane of the carton end, the opposed pair of flaps which are disposed ninety degrees from said first pair each having a length equal to one-half the distance between opposed side walls of the carton minus one-half the width of said first pair of flaps, said second pair of flaps abutting the side edges of the flaps of said first pair as they exist turned in to the plane of the carton end, said first and second pair of flaps forming an inner layer of said carton end, correspondingly formed pairs of end edge abutting flaps and side edge abutting flaps carried by the remaining alternating sides of the carton which are turned in forming the outer layer of the carton end, said inner and outer layers being secured together I there being such two-layer, flap-formed ends upon both the top and bottom of said carton.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1 wherein said end edge abutting flaps have a length equal to one-half the distance between opposed side walls of the carton and said inner and outer layers being secured together by a layer of adhesive sandwiched between them.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,472,211 Gallistel Oct. 30, 1923 1,911,073 Dyment May 23, 1933 2,156,999 McNeil May 2, 1939 2,565,188 Welshenbach Aug. 21, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 347,018 Italy Mar. 15, 193 

